R. L. STEVENSON 
MEMORIES 



LE ROY PHILLIPS 
BOSTON 






Printed By 
MoRRisuN & GiiiB, Ltd. 

EuiNIiUKGH. 






THE LIST OF CONTENTS 

^7 



I. R. I.. S. — LAST PORTRAIT 
11. THOMAS STEVENSON 

III. MRS. THOMAS STEVENSON 

IV. NO. EIGHT HOWARD PLACE 
V. R. L. S. AT THE AGE OF FOUR 

VI. "cummy" 

VII. REV, DR. BALFOUR 

VIII. MISS BALFOUR 

IX. SWANSTON — I, 

X. SWANSTON COTTAGE 

XI. TREE AT SWANSTO.N 

XII. THE SWANSTON GARDENER 

XIII. "THE ROARING shepherd's cottage' 

XIV. SWANSTON— II. 

XV. LIGHT AT EVENTIDE 

XVI. HAYMAKING AT SWANSTON 

XVII. AN OLD FRIEND OF R. L. S. 

X.Vin. THE FARMHOUSE OF SWANSTON 

XIX. ON BOARD THE EQUATOR 

XX. LAND OH ! 

XXI. THE HOME AT VAILIMA 

XXII. ARRIVAL OF PACK-HORSES AT VAILIMA 

XXIir. HOUSEHOLD AT VAILIMA 

XXIV. "HILLS OF home" 

XXV. TOMB OF R. L. STEVENSON 



On his small property in Samoa, where the climate 
was so beneficial to his health, Stevenson lived a free and 
active outdoor life. As a relief to hours of writing in the 
early morning, or dictating to Mrs. Strong, R. L. S. ex- 
ercised himself vigorously in clearing his "holding" of 
undergrowth, and in beautifying the immediate sur- 
roundings of his house ; or by riding, wliich however, 
owing to the nature and condition of the ground, was re- 
stricted to a few miles at a time. So much did he bene- 
fit by this mode of life that there is here little suggestion 

of the invalid of " Skerry vore " at Bournemouth 
ten years previous. 




R. L. S. — LAST PORTRAIT 



The father of K. L. S. was the youngest son of Robert 
Stevenson, the first of the fiunous quartet of Engineers 
to the Board of Northern Lights. Thomas Stevenson's 
chief distinction was probably the development, and 
perfecting of the revolving light for lighthouse illumina- 
tion. In his son's IMeniories and Porlraits his character 
is graphically portrayed ; his "blended sternness and 
softness. . . a man of many extremes," whose "inmost 
thoughts were ever tinged wiih Celtic 
melancholy." 




THOMAS STEVENSON 



Margaret Isabella, the youngest of the daughters of 
Colinton Manse, was known to the parishioners as "the 
minister's white-headed lassie." Tall and graceful in 
figure and of a vivacious and bright temperament, R. L. 
S. has described his childish pride at recognising his 
mother as the prettiest lady at the children's parties to 
which she accompanied him, and into the amusements 
of which she entered with as much zest as 
the young people. 




MRS. THOMAS STEVENSON 



AtNo. SHoward Place, Edinburgh, R. L. S. was born 
on 13th November 1850, and here were spent the first 
two and a half years of his life. From the garden of this 
house he viewed the " Foreign Lands" recalled in his 
verses in A Child's Garden, and here also he eagerly a- 
waited the daily passing of " Leerie the Lamplighter," 
whose occupation it was his childish ambition to follow 

when he grew up. This also he prettily describes 
in the same volume. 




NO. EIGHT HOWARD PLACE 



This portrait is a reproduction of a chalk drawing 
of the novelist as a child of four. Miss E. B. Simp- 
son (Stevenson' s Edinburgh Days) records the trouble 
" Cummy " must have had to £;et and keep the ringlets 
in perfect order for the artist. It was probably their last 
appearance; for shortly afterwards, when "Cummy" 
was on holiday, "Smoutie's" father with a barber's as- 
sistance had the ringlets removed. They are still treas- 
ured with many other keepsakes by his 
faithful old nurse. 




V^ A\ 






R. L. S. AT THE AGE OF FOUR 



AlisonCunningliam entered earlyinto the lifeof R. L. 
S. and never left it as long as he lived. To her almost 
as much as to his mother, he probably owed much of 
that sunny disposition which carried him through the 
weak health that was so depressing to his early years. 
" Cummy," as her charge christened her, belonged to 
Torryburn, on the north shore of the Forth, — "a village 
of white houses, red roofs, crow-stepped gables, bask- 
ing lazily in the sun." Once installed in the Stevenson 
household, she became one of the family, — she is said to 
have refused an offer of marriage rather than desert her 
"boy," — and few nurses have been so amply rewarded 
for their devotion. ToherStevensondedicatedhisC/^/Afj 
Garden of I'erses — 

" For the long nights you lay awake 
And watched for my unworthy sake." 

He regularly corresponded with her in whatever part of 
the world he was, and sent her each of his new books as 
they appeared. Accompanying Kiduappcd\\t writes her 
that "Alison Hastie of Limekilns" must have been a 
relative, and she is also recalled in " Kirstie Weir of 
Hermiston." "Cummy's" house in the south side of 
Edinburgh contains many treasures of her early days at 
Howard Place ; among them the miniature tea-service 
used by " Smoutie " when, acting as host, he enter- 
tained his mother and nurse to 
afternoon tea. 




"cummy" 



The maternal grandfather of R. L. S. came of an old 
family dating back to the days of James iv., when one 
Alexander Balfour was King's cellarman. A later an- 
cestor of the Balfours, Professor of the Laws of Nature 
and Nations in Edinburgh University, married a grand- 
daughter of Sir Gilbert Elliot, which suggested the idea 
to Stevenson that he had at a remote period " shaken 
a spear in the Debateable Land." Dr. Lewis Balfour's 
wife was a daughter of the Rev. Dr. Smith of Galston 
who is satirised by Burns in his " Holy Fair" for his 
"cauld harangues on practice and on morals." Dr. Bal- 
four is described as an austere man, seldom unbending 
even among the many grandchildren who were continu- 
ally inmatesof themanse atColinton. Indeed, his grand- 
son tells that it was a tradition among them that if 
grandfather saw a footprint on the flower borders of 
the garden, he measured it to discover the culprit when 
the boots were put out in the evening. On one occasion 
the coming novelist was greatly disappointed on his 
grandparent peremptorily refusing him a "barley sugar 
kiss" because he had not, like the old gentleman, been 
obliged to swallow a dose of Gregory's powder. But, 
again, when the grandson was sent into the study to 
repeat a psalm, he was unexpectedly taken up on the 
old man's knee and tenderly kissed — so much so was 
this action to the child's surprise that he quite forgot to 
look at an Indian picture which he knew hung in the 
room and which he hoped might be the 
reward of his success. 




REV. DR. BALFOUR 



"Chief of our aunts" — thus her nephew distinguished 
Miss Balfour, the eldest daughter of the minister of Col- 
inton, to whom for many years after her mother's deatn 
she acted as housekeeper at the manse. Miss Balfour 
had been a beauty in her youth, "imperious, managing, 
self-sufficient," says her nephew ; but an accident affect- 
ed her hearing and eyesight, and this calamity changed 
the current of her life into an am iable and tender " second 
mother " to the numerous band of nephews and nieces 
who were sent home from unhealthy Indian stations 
to be reared and educated at " the old manse." 




MISS BALFOUR 



Swanston lies snugly hid in a lap of the Pentland 
Hills, behind, but out of sight, of the farmhouse and the 
Cottage. Approaching it by the main road the visitor 
lights upon the cluster of cottages before he is well aware 
of their proximity. Standing therewith only the rippling 
of the burn, the singing of the birds, and the bleating of 
sheep strikingon his ear, it is difficult to realise he is close 
to the noise and bustle of city life, and not in some 
clachan in a remote Highland glen. 




SWANSTON — I. 



The original Cottage was built by the Corporation of 
Edinburgli when a new water-supply to the City was in- 
troduced. They made the place a sort of holiday retreat. 
Its history at this period — when St. Ives was conducted 
to it and from whence he set forth, disguised as a drover, 
in the company of Sim — is picturesquely told by Steven- 
son in his Edinburgh Notes. Later the old Cottage was 
altered tosuitmodernconvenienceand becamethehomc 
of the Stevenson family in 1867. Its situation, like the 
village, almost entirely hidden from public view, is aptly 
described by R. L. S. as "secluded Swanslon, 
lapped in a fold of the Pentlands." 




SWANSTON COTTAGE 



On the tree at Svvanston, shown in the photograph, 

R. L. S. cut his own and his father's initials in the early 

days of the family's residence at the Cottage. The tree 

was unfortunately blown down some years ago and was 

destroyed along with this interesting 

memento. 




TREK AT SWANSTON 



The original of the sketch of "An Old Scots Garden- 
er." He was of the type of Andrew Fairservice though 
without his vices. This quaint old servitor exercised su- 
preme authorit)' in his own department of work, accept- 
ing congratulations for any success he attained in it, and 
meeting any reference to backwardness in the produc- 
tions of the garden with an apt quotation from Scripture 
which clearly placed all responsibility on Providence. 
Robert was a deeply religious man whose aim seemed to 
be to secure the blessing held out to peacemakers. His 
biographer tells many quaint stories of him in this capa- 
city. His is one of the most delightful of 
Memories and Portraits. 




THE SWANSTON GARDENER 



"The roaring shepherd's cottage" was the home of 
John Todd, who was the terror of Stevenson's early days 
at Swanston. When wandering on the slopes of the 
Pentlands he would be startled by the wrathful shout of 
the shepherd, "'C'wayoot amang the sheep." R. L. S. 
and theroaringshepherdultimatelybecamegreat friends 
— the ice being first broken by the latter tendering the 
young intruder his snuff-box. Todd, like every one else 
who came in contact with Stevenson, became so at- 
tracted to him that in passing the garden in his rounds 
he never failed to give him a "ca' in" and invite his 
company to the hills. Many of the tales of the prowess 
and perfidy of sheep-dogs recorded in the Pastoral es- 
say were gleaned from John Todd's recollections as a 
"drover, "by his eager young companion, as they trudged 
the slopes of Kirk Yelton together. John Todd — " the 
oldest herd on the Pentlands" — appears in 
St. Ives. 




"THE ROARING SHEPHERD S COTTAGE' 



To view Swanston aright one must ascend thehillside 
behind the village. From the high ground of Lothian- 
burn Golf Course one can look down on this now world- 
famous little village and realise to some extent the hold 
it had in the memoryof Stevenson when, from the veran- 
dah of his home at Vailima, he looked out on other scenes 
and recalled the days of his boyhood and youth spent in 
this delightful spot on the outskirts of his 
" own romantic town." 




SWANSTON— II. 



Nothing could be more suggestive of the quietude of 
Swanston village than this "interior " of one of its cot- 
tages.. Although within sight and sound of Edinburgh, 
this scene reminds one that in its sequestered nook at 
the foot of the Pentlands, Swanston is still 
"far from the madding crowd" ! 




LIGHT AT EVENTIDE 



A scene such as is shown in the accompanying photo- 
graph would be one with which R. L. S. would be very 
familiar, and the memoryof which he would retain in the 
long after years. Not only was he the friend of the garden - 
er and "the roaring shepherd," but he associated freely 

with the farm hands and doubtless often assisted 
them in the fields. 




HAYMAKING AT SWANSTON 



There is an old and anew Swanston. The latter, form- 
ing three sides of a square, is a typical Scottish farm 
" town " ; the former, hidden from its neighbour on a 
gentle slope facing the west, consists of thatched cottages 
delightfully suggestive of the eighteenth-century days 
when the gauger's flute was heard playing " Over the 
hills and far away." At her cottage door in this se- 
cluded " iiaunt " is one of R. L. S.'s 
old friends. 




AN OLD I'RIKND OF R. I.. S. 



The oUl house of Swanston — now the farmhouse — 
was at one time the grange of Whitekirk Abbey in East 
Lothian. It has had interesting associations with con- 
venticles in the hills behind, and during the Forty-five 
was visited by a foraging partyof Highlanders. Finding 
a churn full of cream, they commandeered it for their 
breakfast, and having satisfied themselves with the 
" braw brose" they made off, carrying all they 
could with them. 




THE FARMHOUSE OF SWANSTON 



On the schooner Equator Stevenson made a cruise 
in the Central Pacific, visiting the Gilbert Islands and 
the Samoan group, landing at Apia for the first time 
towards the end of 1 89 1 . It was during this cruise, when 
spending some days ashore on one of the Gilbert Islands, 
tliat R. L. S. for the first and only time encountered 
some risk of attack from natives, with whom, especially 
in Samoa, he was on the most friendly 
terms. 




ON BOARD THE EQUATOR 



In the Casco, a schooner yacht of 70 tons, Stevenson 
made his first cruise in the Pacific, starting from Cali- 
fornia, It was characteristic of his exuberant spirits, when 
in good heaUh, to take some part in the work of those 
with whom he was associated, his contagious enthusiasm 
keeping all about him in high 
good humour. 




LAND OH ! 



R. L, S.'s house at Vailima was a wooden building 
which in its site and construction fulfilled in many re- 
spects his ideal of a home. It stood inland about three 
miles from, the coast and some six hundred feet above 
the level of the sea. Surrounding the dwelling-house 
and forming a miniature village — or what in Scotland is 
known as " the farm toun"" — were grouped accommoda- 
tion for servants, outhouses, stores, and stables. Here 
Stevenson exercised what his fancy pictured as the posi- 
tion of a Highland chief: on the one hand consulted by 
his native servants on all matters affecting their interests 
(when marriage was in view his permission was asked) ; 
on the other, when occasion arose, imposing 
small tines for minor delinquencies. 




THE HOME AT VAILIMA 



When Stevenson settled at Vailima there was no road 
to his house from Apia, the principal town of the island 
of Upolu. He immediately began the construction of 
one, and remade it several times, until latterly, under 
favourable weather conditions, it was available ior light- 
wheeled trafiic ; but for carrying supplies of all kinds 
pack-horses had to be used, and the photograph 
shows the arrival of two at \'ailima. 




ARRIVAL OF PACK-HORSES AT VAILIMA 



The Vailima household grouped on the verandah of 
Stevenson's first home on Mount Vaea is an interesting 
study. Here we see the great writer for whose works 
" pubHshersand public impatiently waited "surrounded 
by his nearest and dearest relatives, and his faithful na- 
tive servants, who looked to him as a kind and staunch 
friend as well as a master. In strong contrast to the 
childlike unconventionality of the natives is hismother's 
prim pose ; but this we are told was only assumed with 
the appearance of a camera, when she ' ' donned her cap, " 
tucked in her slockingless feet, and 
"preened herself." 




HOUSEHOLD AT VAILIMA 



Of the Pentland Hills, Caerketton (Ivirk Yetton) and 

Allermiiir — the former with its long scars visible from 

any high point in Edinburgh, the latter the highest on 

the north-eastern spur of the range — were the favourite 

resorts of R. L. S. In his Picturesque Notes he fully 

describes them and the surrounding country. 




HILLS OF HOME ' 



As is well known, Stevenson was buried on the summit 
of Vaea — the hill on the slopes of which he built hishouse. 
The spot is described as "no wider than a room and flat 
as a table." Over the grave was erected "The Tomb of 
Tusitala " — the Teller of Tales — bearing two panels with 
inscriptions in Samoan and in English. The latter con- 
cludes with his own lines — 

" Home is the sailor, home from the sea, 
And the hunter home from the hill." 




TOMB OF R. L. STEVENSON 



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